Numerical study of electrical behaviour in carbon nanotube composites

A structure aimed at modeling a polymeric nanocomposite loaded with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is simulated by considering, in a three-dimensional space, a random distribution of impenetrable conducting cylinders inside an insulating cubic matrix. The variation of the electrical conductivity of the structure for different volume loadings of the conducting phase is estimated through a 3D resistor network. The tunneling effect between conducting clusters which is deemed responsible of the global conductivity is taken into account. By using a Monte Carlo method, the electrical conductivity and the percolation thresholds of the obtained structures are analyzed as a function of geometrical and physical influencing parameters.